Chapter 698 — Grandmaster of Law and Dao

"Shen the Monstrous Infant?"

The infant Shen Fengqing, hunched cat-like behind a great mountain, was stealing glances at that quarter and waiting for the Old Buddha to come down, fuming inwardly: "That three-headed creature dares to speak ill of me—in a little while I'll pull his arms and legs off, one by one."

He was like a cat about to pounce, rubbing hands and feet together in restless eagerness, meaning to seize the Old Buddha the moment he descended.

But the Great Brahma Heaven King Buddha did not come down. "I thank Your Majesty the Crimson Emperor for the warning," he said. "This old monk begs pardon—he will not be coming down. Might I ask, Brother Lord Heaven, and Your Majesty the Crimson Emperor, what brings you here?"

Lord Heaven's incarnation sighed. "It is a long tale, and one not worth telling. Let it lie."

The Old Buddha looked at them, understood without another word being spoken, and pressed the matter no further. "And the subtle shifts in the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth—what of them? They seem to have risen from some upheaval here."

"The work of the Shen boy," the Crimson Emperor said. "He is resurrecting Lady Tianyin."

"Was it Shen Mu who stirred up this commotion, or his elder brother?" the Old Buddha asked.

"The bad little brother did it!"

Hidden behind the mountain, Shen Fengqing could not hold his tongue. "Well?" he called. "Are you coming down or not?"

"No."

The Old Buddha spoke with perfect justification. "If I come down, I shall be shut up in here as well. Shen Fengqing, there is nothing you can do to me. Have you forgotten that it was because you tried to eat me last time that I suppressed you?"

"He will not eat us anymore," said Lord Heaven's incarnation. "But he will pull off our arms and legs to play with. If you come down, you will suffer the same."

The Old Buddha laughed. "Innocence without wickedness—that is a great evil indeed."

Lord Heaven's incarnation sighed. "But not so terrible as Evil. The Crimson Emperor and I once helped his younger brother Shen Mu strip away his cultivation, and the result was that Shen Mu became Evil. That was true horror, true lawlessness and heavenlessness! Had I not been a step cleverer, and thought of a countermeasure in advance, by now I fear..."

The Old Buddha shivered. "You truly dare to meddle, and you truly know how. Turn Shen Mu into Evil—what would come of that? It seems his younger brother has stirred up heaven-shaking commotions more than once. These last few hundred years, the shifts in the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth have grown ever more frequent—the Jingping Reform, from reforming the law to reforming the Dao. In a few centuries there have been more self-changes in the Great Dao than in the twenty thousand years before. No wonder the Celestial Court is so alarmed about Jingping, fearing that it will evolve into another Celestial Court."

"The shifts were not great a few years ago," Lord Heaven said. "But in recent years, ever since the Shen boy came down from the mountains, their frequency has grown and grown. To us ancient gods, every shift is a weakening; it is not necessarily a good thing. Once an ancient god emerges into the world, he can no longer flow with the Great Dao. The Dao changes and we do not—and so every reform of law and Dao weakens us."

"Lady Tianyin's soul was shattered into the finest black sand," said the Old Buddha. "How can he resurrect her?"

"His divine powers cross too many systems," Lord Heaven said. "The Gloom Capital's system, the Mystic Capital's arts, the Profound Capital's divine powers, the power of Creation, the Way of the Gods, the Way of Demons, the Way of Buddha, the Daoist order—he has them all, and he has blended a great many things together; it is hard to put into words. His crooked ideas are endless, but whether he can truly resurrect Lady Tianyin is still an open question."

The Old Buddha badly wanted to go out and watch Shen Mu work his arts, but if he left, Shen Fengqing would likely break the seal; he could only endure.

Outside, the corpse-ghosts within Lady Tianyin's body were still pouring out in a frenzy, turning into wisp after wisp of black smoke and departing. Seven or eight parts in ten of them had been expelled; few remained.

So Lady Tianyin grew quiet, and pressed no further attacks on Shen Mu and the God-Man Kaihuang.

The God-Man Kaihuang still held the Book of Life and Death aloft to illumine Lady Tianyin's face, frantic and fearful, not daring to slacken in the least. But as Lady Tianyin's soul fragments were summoned home by Shen Mu, her shrunken features gradually grew clear and full once more.

At last all of Lady Tianyin's soul particles were called back by Shen Mu, and the corpse-ghosts were expelled until none were left. This heaven-born divinity stood motionless, a pagoda held in her hand; the God-Man Kaihuang stood atop the pagoda, and Shen Mu stood upon its spire, with the inverted Heaven-Bearing Gate behind him.

Shen Mu was still forcing words out one by one, words like pearls, voice like thunder. Light poured from the Heaven-Bearing Gate and shone upon Lady Tianyin's face.

He was stealing Lord Heaven's power, using the mighty creative force of Lord Heaven to remake Lady Tianyin's Heaven Soul.

Within Lady Tianyin's body, countless grains of black sand recombined without cease; her Heaven Soul was slowly taking shape.

Shen Mu's face went ashen. Suddenly a sweetness rose in his throat, and blood surged up.

Though he was stealing Lord Heaven's power to work his art, his own dharma-power was consumed enormously as well; and not dharma-power alone—his spirit and his flesh were all being drained fiercely, beyond what he could bear.

Suddenly his body shook, and he manifested three heads and six arms; at the same instant his primordial spirit also took the form of three heads and six arms.

Shen Mu steadied his breath, and after a long while at last succeeded in remaking Lady Tianyin's Heaven Soul.

Behind him the Heaven-Bearing Gate suddenly rang with a clang; Heaven and Earth turned once more, and the gate reverted to its normal form. Black qi rushed out of it—the demonic qi of the Gloom Capital—and poured into Lady Tianyin's body, striking at her tailbone, where the Earth Soul was being remade.

This time, what Shen Mu meant to steal was the power of Lord Earth; he would borrow Lord Earth's power to remake Lady Tianyin's Earth Soul.

"Wah—"

All three of Shen Mu's heads opened their mouths and spat blood together. He forcibly suppressed his spirit, which was on the verge of collapse, and kept driving his art, turning the Heaven-Bearing Gate sideways, stealing the power of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth at once. Darkness and white light gushed forth together and illumined the place of Lady Tianyin's navel.

There the Life Soul resides.

Of the three souls, the Heaven Soul and the Earth Soul could be restored by stealing the power of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth; but the Life Soul is what belongs to life itself, and of this Shen Mu had made no deep study.

His attainments in this regard were far below those of Granny Zhu.

Still, since in the Heaven-Bearing Gate Heaven lies above and Earth below, the human world must lie at the center—and the human world is the dwelling place of living beings. So he resolved to try with the powers of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth together, to see whether he could help Lady Tianyin recast her Life Soul.

Shen Mu could hold out less and less; flesh and primordial spirit, dharma-power and spirit alike had all reached their limits. Yet what gladdened him was that where the powers of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth converged, Lady Tianyin's Life Soul was slowly gathering.

He held on in bitter endurance, his mind already benumbed and muddled. He was no god, after all; this time he was exerting a great art that defied Heaven and altered fate—altering the fate of a heaven-born divinity. It was nothing less than staking his own life!

Time passed, little by little.